black is the new black [black students union]

[Deleted]

They said "no rest for the wicked" and if that was true, then Roxy must be very wicked indeed. She'd spent the better part of January duplicating the "Love Potions Do Not Equal Consent" posters in an abandoned classroom (and thank goodness for that time Professor Riveras had mentioned exponential growth, because it hadn't taken all that long once she had a design to start with), and submitting Letters to the Editor of various media outlets about how love potions were equivalent to the Imperius Curse and ought to be banned. So that campaign was in full swing, and it had definitely gotten people talking. And although she hadn't intentionally kept it a secret, apparently not many people had realised she'd been the one who'd done it. (She wasn't sure how, given it was classic Weasley tactics and classic Roxy subject material, but there you go.)

But February wasn't just the month with Valentine's Day - it was also Black History Month. It had taken her a while to think of something suitable for their meeting, but she was pretty pleased with it. She had duplicated some pages from Great Wizards of the Twentieth Century and Important Modern Magical Discoveries, a bunch of Chocolate Frog cards, and a few chronicles of Quidditch teams that featured Black witches and wizards. There were scads of paper, several colours of ink and quills, and a pile of pastries, fruit and crackers. 

The plan, such as it was, was that they'd pick a few of their favourites, trying to get a range of people. They'd make some posters, and then plaster the school with them. Or maybe they'd just make a few, make them really big, and stick them in the Entrance Hall. Something like that, anyway. As long as it was fun, it would be good enough for her.

OOC: So, this will be a free-for-all format thread. And I've tagged everyone who said 'remind me to add [blank] to BSU', so consider this your reminder

A few of the Black witches and wizards Roxy will have made copies of descriptions of: Seraphina Picquery, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Hermione Granger, Lee Jordan, Gwenog Jones, Joshua Sankara, Cybèle Peltier, Josephine Marat, Lucas Picquery, Violetta Beauvais, Celestina Warbeck, Mungo Bonham, Wilfred Elphick, Kelly Whakkaarangapawarau, and most of the African and Caribbean Quidditch teams
Go ahead and race-swap other figures from magical history, and claim they were in the piles of descriptions!

@zytka
@otto
@lionaanna
@seamus
@simone
Rozalina Antonina Nightshade

[Deleted]

Otto wasn't against Roxy's idea of celebrating Black History Month by showcasing notable Black wizards to the Hogwarts population. If anything, the whole concept of creating posters that everyone could see would work brilliantly. He was just utterly tired from frequently staying up all night to catch up on classwork concepts that he was behind in class. Ultimately, that effected his attitude toward putting forth initiative to ensure that this month's events would be a success. Admittedly so (internally anyway), Otto was a bit selfish in that regard because he was putting his own problems before the commitments he made to BSU. But Otto didn't want stir up any trouble with Roxy... not now anyway.

It probably wouldn't help his case that he walked right into the classroom on an empty stomach because Otto went right to the pastries and fruit, grabbing a few of them and stockpiling the food onto a plate and sitting atop a desk before speaking to Roxy. "Hey Rox..." he said in between bites, covering his mouth to not be completely rude. "...Anything changed since the last meeting?" Because he definitely wasn't in attendance there either.

@roxanne

[Deleted]

February just brought about so many exciting things. She was, of course, excited for the feeling of love that the month brought about as a hopeless romantic. February was also Black History Month, and someone was finally doing something about it. BSU's leader, Roxanne Weaseley, was actually quite admirable for the effort she was putting into making this month memorable for BSU and all of the black students at Hogwarts.

Liona walked into the Ancient Runes classroom just as she heard Otto Sterden's voice ring out. She snickered and shook her head. "You know, you should make more of an effort to show up. Then again, you have been falling asleep in the common room a lot lately," she smirked at him before turning to Roxanne and nodding in greeting. She saw the spread of papers, inks, quills and foods, tilting her head in curiosity. "I am interested to see how we pull this off Ms. Weasley. It is great a plan. Have we gotten approval for the posters already?"

Tag; @roxanne
@otto

OOTD; Here

[Deleted]

Roxy had just about been to retort that Otto should have been there to know if anything had changed, when Liona got there first. She did so love that the BSU got out people from all over Hogwarts, and actually had a good and inviting atmosphere. Still, she couldn't let Liona have all the fun. "Every meeting is a good meeting at the Black Student Union," she informed Otto with a grin. "You missed excellent discussions and some more of those delicious pastries you've found."

Liona asked how they were going to pull it off, and well, she wasn't giving away all her secrets. Permission was a good dodge. "Umm, permission's a good thing to have. I asked, though!" This time. Moving on...

"There are so many cool people I thought we might share, so I was thinking one or two from each category, so we don't end up with just Quidditch players." Because as much as she - and Otto - loved Quidditch, not everyone felt the same way.

@lionaanna
@otto

[Deleted]

Rose Weasley always had a lot on her plate. She had a nasty habit of often times biting off more than she could chew, but even with N.E.W.T.s quickly approaching, she had yet to feel severely overwhelmed by all of her coursework and extracurriculars. She supposed it was in part due to her happiness, now that she was sort of back with Scorpius. There was, of course, still the issue of her father but Rose was almost eighteen. She would probably hold off until graduation to tell him any about that. She figured if her mother had let it slip to her father, Rose would have likely heard about it by now. But luckily there had been no word. So she could come clean on her own at the right time.

The Ravenclaw was able to break away from her studies for a while to attend the meeting for the Black Students Union, something she had been so excited to see added to Hogwarts' extracurriculars. Rose was immensely proud of her cousin for stepping up and running such a club, and Rose tried dearly to attend every meeting. Rose always enjoyed the discussions they had, and the representation at their school was so important, especially for younger students just entering school - so they could have a chance to maybe make more friends. As Rose entered the Ancient Runes classroom, she smiled at her cousin. "Hi, Roxy," she greeted her as she set her bag and two school books down on top of an empty desk top. Rose turned back around and then greeted the other two members in the room. "Hello Otto, Liona," she nodded at them in turn. It was odd, Rose thought then, that for being in a club with Liona and "sort of" dating Scorpius, she had never really spoken to the Slytherin. Before her interest in Scorpius, she had really ignored the girl based solely on the fact that she was related to the Malfoy family. But now... things were obviously different, and Rose wasn't sure where to begin. So she faced her cousin again. "I'm excited for this meeting, Rox!" She exclaimed happily.

@otto @lionaanna @roxanne

[Deleted]

The Black Student Union was having a meeting, which of course meant that Zytka, as their supervisor, had to be present. Zytka often wondered about her position as supervisor, and whether or not she would still be active in the club if she was not the only black faculty member at Hogwarts; in the end, she always decided that she would indeed be the supervisor still, even if there was an alternative. None of her students had ever even been to Africa, as far as Zytka knew, and since she had grown up there, she could offer a different perspective. Zytka looked up from the papers on her desk when someone asked Roxy if she had permission to hang up the posters. "The new headmistress has a lot she needs to get to before poster approvals, I'd imagine." Zytka still had yet to meet her new leader outside of dinners and occasionally passing in the hallways, so she didn't know whether or not that was true, but hopefully it would appeased Roxanne.

"If I may suggest a non-Quidditch player to begin," Zytka said rounding the side of the desk so that she could be closer to the assembled students, "Chukwuemeka Obekpa is quite a renowned potioneer in Africa, especially his home country of Nigeria, though he hasn't gained as much renown in Europe, I'm afraid." He had been a bright boy when they had attended Uagadou together, though obviously Zytka's path had diverged from her once-acquaintance when she had chosen Ancient Runes, and diverged again when she had left the continent in favor of Europe.

@roxanne
@otto
@lionaanna
Rozalina Antonina Nightshade
(legit just made that up, whoops)

[Deleted]

Liona snickered at Roxanne's words to Otto. She pretty much said the same thing she'd said just in that nice Gryffindor way. If he'd shown up he wouldn't have missed all of the 'excellent discussions' they'd had. She easily teased Otto because they had history. History that didn't need to be rehashed but it he was a pretty nice guy so they remained a little bit more than amicable. She took note of the fact that Roxanne hadn't actually answered her question with a definite yes and she shook her head, incredulous but amused. She was going to comment on the omission before Rose Weasley entered the classroom, greeting her cousin then Otto and her. Liona couldn't help the smirk that graced her features as she eyed the girl curiously. "Well hello there second Ms. Weasley. Glad you could make it because I'm sure you've got a lot to do," Liona had a knowing look on her face as she grinned at her.

It was then that Professor Kamuntu spoke, mentioning that the new Headmistress was probably too busy to worry about post approvals. "Surprise, surprise. So we might not have permission for these? Rebellion and all of that I guess?" she commented in amusement. She walked over to the table and looked at some of the descriptions Roxanne had provided for them to choose from as the professor talked about another prominent black wizard she knew of. She would have preferred that most of who they highlight be non-quidditch players. The two she most expected and actually wanted to be there were already printed out. "This is a good list but it would also make a better impact if we add more witches and wizards the student body doesn't know about already. We should definitely add Mr. Obekpa."

Tag; @roxanne
@otto
Rozalina Antonina Nightshade
@zytka

OOTD; Here

[Deleted]

Viola was not good at situations that involved speaking to multiple people. Being quiet around multiple people? They were great at that. Talking to people one-on-one? Also in their skill set. But talking to multiple people at once? A little overwhelming. At the GSA it was a little easier since they had to make sure no one was getting any funny ideas about gender non-conforming folk, and when they had a purpose in mind, everything was more manageable. Walking into the meeting of the Black Students Union was going to be different from walking into the GSA, though, because Viola didn't belong there, at least by most people's measure. They weren't black, and they weren't a Hogwarts student. The only thing they could really get behind was the Union part, because unity and solidarity and such were important. More than that, they had heard that the BSU was struggling a little with flagging meeting attendance, and they wanted to show Roxy that someone was in her corner. When Viola walked into the room, they tried to be cool and casual, but their ambling steps led them directly to Roxy. If they had gone faster, it would have been a beeline, but Viola's pace was just slow enough that it couldn't be called that. "Hey." Viola greeted Roxy first, then raised their hand in greeting to the rest of the assembled, trying to act like they weren't as out of place as they felt.

@roxanne
@otto
@lionaanna
Rozalina Antonina Nightshade
(permission from the notorious K A T (H) to crash)

[Deleted]

Roxy smiled at her cousin. "Hey Rose, good to see you." She tried not to react too much to the fact that they might not have permission - yet. She was sort of counting on the yet. "A little rebellion's good for you, and it's not like a poster ever hurt anyone." Unless they had slurs, but these wouldn't, so really, she didn't see what the problem would be. As long as her Head Girl cousin didn't call her on it, at least.

"Mr. Obekpa sounds like a good choice - is he known for work on any particular potions we could mention?" she asked Professor Kamuntu, scribbling down the name and 'potioneer' on the piece of parchment she was using for the short-list.

And then Viola came in, and headed straight for her, and Roxy smiled. They hadn't had someone come as an ally in pretty much ever. Of course it would be Viola. "Hey! We're putting up posters of famous Black witches and wizards for Black History Month. Any from your neck of the woods we should consider? Especially some we might not have heard of," she said with a glance and smile at Liona. It was a good idea, and she knew she didn't have any Eastern Europeans in the lists she'd come up with - they were rather Anglo-centric, unfortunately. Bringing in people that the other schools might know would also increase the impact, she figured.

Rozalina Antonina Nightshade
@otto
@lionaanna
@zytka
@viola

[Deleted]

Zytka hid a smile behind her hand when she insisted that a little rebellion could be good for people, and that posters couldn’t hurt anyone. She was beginning to think she might know the culprit behind the hundreds of anti-love potion posters that had appeared in the school practically overnight one day. “Miss Weasley, I do believe I heard some gibberish just come from your mouth. Perhaps you would care to repeat what you just said, keeping in mind that you are speaking in the presence of a member of Hogwarts faculty, who is obligated to report a student she believes is making a rule infraction?” Zytka prodded gently. She was fond of Roxanne, and while she was willing to overlook one comment or two, it would do the Gryffindor good to remember that Zytka didn’t have as much leeway as Rose, the Head Girl, did when it came to reporting rule breakers. If it was ever discovered she hid such a thing, it was her job on the line.

“He’s most well-known for an energy replenishing potion. It’s used primarily for Quidditch players – I believe it’s similar to a Muggle sports drink, if you are familiar with those.” She said. The name of the particular potion was escaping her, but Zytka was sure that it would be easily found if a little research was done. The professor looked at the door when another student ended, rather shocked to see that a foreign student would attend a meeting. It appeared the girl knew Roxanne, though, which explained her presence, and Zytka had to admit she was curious to see if the foreigner knew anything of black witches or wizards in her neck of the woods.

@roxanne
@otto
@lionaanna
Rozalina Antonina Nightshade

[Deleted]

Roxy tried really hard not to cringe when Professor Kamuntu pointed out to . Instead she put on her best and most innocent face, and said, rather more academically toned than before, "I only meant, Professor, that sometimes the best way to affect change is to break the rules. Civil disobedience and all; it's a well-known phenomenon. Not that I believe the Hogwarts rules are unreasonable, but -" she shrugged "- I'm impatient." But she was acting under school auspices, so she would follow the rules. Really. And there was no proof that she'd done anything wrong, she was pretty sure. She'd been careful. And if she did get in trouble, well, it would have been worth it.

Roxy jotted down 'energy-replenishing potion' next to Mr. Obekpa's name, and made a mental note to investigate the potion for Quidditch. If it wasn't against the rules, maybe she could make some for the Gryffindor team.

@zytka
@viola
@otto
@lionaanna
Rozalina Antonina Nightshade

[Deleted]

Liona was looking over the list of names that Roxanne had come up with again, attempting to think of any names that weren't on there. She was also casually listening to the answer Roxanne had given the professor regarding civil disobedience and breaking the rules and the explanation was only digging herself further into a hole. Liona chuckled as she thought hard about any black withces and wizards she knew when, while scanning the list a fifth time, she realized that there seemed to be a name missing from the list, one she was quite surprised by actually. "Ms. Weasley, shouldn't your mother's name be on this list." she asked curiously, turning to Roxanne and tilting her head. Angelina Johnson-Weasley had fought in the war too and from what she knew she played quidditch now as well so it would make sense that she would be on the list. "Also, I know Maryanne Mistwell perfected the on the go hairstyling charm for thicker and curlier hair types," she added. She hadn't had to use the charm too much because she kept her hair mostly in braids but she'd used it once or twice and it had been a miracle for when she needed to be ready fast.

Tag; @roxanne
@otto
Rozalina Antonina Nightshade
@zytka
@viola

OOTD; Here

(OOC: Made up name~ Though it should totally exist because I love it)

[Deleted]

When Liona suggested that Roxy’s mum should have been on the list of black witches and wizards, Roxy jumped on the chance to change the topic, and turned to answer her. ”Well, there’s already a lot of black Quidditch players on the list. And you know, she’s my mum.” She shrugged. There was no doubt that Angelina Johnson-Weasley deserved to be on the list, but Roxy didn’t feel like she could do it herself. But once Liona had said it, Roxy wrote her on the short-list.

Liona suggested Maryanne Mistwell for the list, and mentioned the charm she was famous for. ” The Curl Control Charm, right? I use it all the time; it’s brilliant” she said, nodding. ”Good choice.” Maryanne Mistwell’s name was added to the list with the note ‘beauty charms’ next to it.

@lionaanna
@zytka
@viola
Rozalina Antonina Nightshade
@otto

[Deleted]

Rose was a little surprised when Liona Zabini greeted her with what looked like a knowing look. It had almost escaped Rose's mind that Liona was, in fact, Scorpius's cousin. Did she know about them? Rose couldn't be, no - shouldn't be mad if he did. Rose had told her mother, after all. But were they talking about it now? Were they telling people? Rose wasn't sure, so she decided to keep herself together and nod a "hello" in return. "Hello, Liona," she greeted the Slytherin just as kindly as she could.

The Ravenclaw listened to her fellow students and Professor Kamuntu discuss how they may not have permission to put up the posters. "If we get any flak," she piped up. "I can take care of it." She smiled kindly at Roxanne. Sometimes being Head Girl had its perks, but Rose would gladly take the fall if their posters were frowned upon. But like Professor Kamuntu said, Rose doubted Professor McGonagall would be worrying about posters right now. Rose smirked a little when Professor Kamuntu spoke pointedly at Roxanne.

Rose was quiet as she listened to the others' ideas. Then someone else had walked into the classroom, someone Rose didn't know but recognized to be a Durmstrang student and Rose nodded a greeting at them. Rose had never heard of Mr. Obekpa, and she agreed with Liona that perhaps they should include people that others weren't familiar with. Rose knew how Roxy felt about putting her mother on the list. When Rose had just glanced at the list, the first name she had spotted was her own mum's. But Rose kept quiet and hoped no one would choose that name. Rose smiled at Liona's suggestion, quite surprised that Mistwell hadn't been mentioned already.

@roxanne @lionaanna @zytka @viola